Another Use for Kerchief Slides November 3, 2008

I have a feeling most who read this blog are very familiar with the fun you can have with kerchief slides. You know that anything that can be hot glued to a section of PVC pipe can become a slide. This weekend, me and my 2nd year Webelos son found an R2 D2 keychain on sale for a couple of bucks, and immediately the wheels in our minds started to turn. We bought it, took it home, unscrewed the key chain link, and glued R2 to PVC, and he now has an R2 D2 kerchief slide. He can’t wait to wear it to our den meeting tomorrow evening.

I have a bag of these tie slides that I use for a training aid. I have ones with a Hot Wheels car attached (for Pinewood Derby time), I have one with a small compass (for campouts), and even one with a Jack in the Box antenna ball (for no real reason). Along with training, I have been able to use this collection of slides to help my son deal with “uniform burnout”. When it comes to wearing his uniform, we used to have the “Why can’t it be the Class-B pack t-shirt” discussion. But now we make it a big deal where he can pick through the bag of slides and get one that he wants to wear for the meeting we are going to. He is actually glad we are in uniform for tomorrow’s meeting, because he can wear the new R2 D2 slide.

Even though this goes against the idea of “uniform”, as we have something completely different than the other scouts, it has helped my son want to wear his uniform. We have been very active since Tigers, and we have spent this current Scouting year dealing with burnout. So I find myself having to be creative to keep his interest in Cub Scouts, as he’s done so much throughout the years and can’t wait to go into Boy Scouts. And this is a little thing that has helped.